More effective way to subdivide the cone?
There are many ways to do it I guess. Here's mine:
After adding a cone set it's base fill type to triangle fan. Select the lower edge and press Ctrl+B to bevel it and scroll the mouse to add two additional edges. Change the mode to Percent (press M tree times) and place the edges very near to each other. Next select the very upper edge and place it on top of the cone pressing G twice. Add a subsurf modifier.


Finally dissolve the edge at the bottom (X-->Dissolve Edges) and add the edge loop (Ctrl+R) to replace it.